Aftershocks
by m.tarnina
Summary: Having returned to Sadida, Yugo and Adamai start their long and winding road to recovery. Rated for an amateur reenactment of saint George's legend. Polish version "Wstrząsy wtórne".
1. Yugo

At first the blue was one solid wall. Painfully bright, it pressed at him from all around, and all Yugo could do was make himself very tiny and wait for it to crush him - or go away.

But after a moment the pressure yielded. Yugo began to distinguish threads in the shining fabric of wakfu that was surrounding him, tangled and snagged. Just at arm's length a huge knot was throbbing with light, and a smaller one, barely visible, hugged close to it.

He reached for them.

"Yugo?" A familiar voice asked.

He opened his eyes, but squinted instantly from the physical light, no less brilliant than the wakfu radiation. A warm, slender palm brushed at his hand, clenched on something rough.

"How are you feeling?" Asked Eva, smoothing out his blanket.

"Eva?"

She smiled. "I chased Alibert off, so he'd get some sleep. He's been watching you since we came back."

"When?" Yugo tried to prop himself up on his elbows, but they wouldn't hold his weight, as if his arms have been hollowed. Eva supported him.

"Here's a pillow. The day before yesterday. Can you remember what happened?"

"There was a battle..." Yugo gasped. "Is everyone...?"

"Everyone is fine, including that hot-headed boyfriend of mine" she said warmly. "But as we were getting back, you fainted, remember? Almost fell off Phaeris's back."

Yugo stared at the blanket in silence. It was a sadidan, greenish-gray blanket of nettle fiber.

"Adamai slept through the first day, as well." Eva continued. "Phaeris says it's normal after spending so much wakfu."

"So we're back in Sadida?"

"We're back in Sadida."

"Everyone must be so mad at us..."

"Mad? Whatever for?"

Yugo swallowed. "Quilby... didn't he destroy anything here?"

"No, just vanished along with the dragons and the Eliacube."

The dragons. "How are Adamai and Grougal?"

Eva smiled, but before she started talking, the door rapped open.

"Yugo!"

And suddenly he was drowning in an ocean of warmth, kitchen smells and brilliant wakfu.

"Oh, Yugo, you're finally awake!"

"Let him breathe, Alibert." Eva joked,

but he did suddenly feel light-headed.

"Yugo?" Yugo!"

"Mmmm... what?" he fluttered his eyelids and among the dark spots saw Alibert's face, drawn with worry. His hands were resting on Yugo's shoulders.

"You're still not feeling well?"

Suddenly, he felt cold.

"I'm fine." He said in a tone as soothing as he could muster, but instead of hugging him again Alibert simply sat on the edge of the bed, glancing anxiously at Yugo.

"You asked about the dragons." Eva broke the heavy silence.

"Grougaloragan turned very jumpy, he won't leave Chibi's side."

Alibert nodded. "Keeps growling even at me."

"Adamai" Eva went on " slept for a day, then sat here with you, and now... Alibert, where did he go?"

"Said he couldn't sit still and needed a walk."

"We have to look for him." Yugo tried to sit up, but his elbows buckled and he fell onto the pillow.

"We'll do it, Yugo." Alibert chided gently, tucking him in.

"We will, you focus on getting better."

"But Adamai-"

"Is completely safe in the forest of Sadida." Eva said. Her wakfu shone with such brilliance Yugo squinted on reflex.

"What about Amalia? Is she angry?" He mumbled.

"She still is, a bit" started Eva, but Alibert interrupted.

"Hush... let him sleep."

I'm not sleeping, Yugo wanted to protest, but this was his last concious thought.

* * *

White surrounded him. Like swimming in a lake of milk, Yugo thought, but corrected himself instantly. No, it's all solid stuff under my feet, I think. He gave it an experimental stomp.

"Aah! Ow... a cloud with storeys?"

Cautiously, he groped at the surface he landed on, exactly as white as everything here, just (ow...) firmly material. For the time being, at least.

I'll wait, he decided. If it dissolves and I fall, it'll hurt a bit less if I'm sitting down. He hugged his knees and rested his chin on them. No, that's uncomfortable. Moving his head, he got his knees under his chin. Better, but still not it. But I'll go all stiff, sitting like this, he thought and stretched his legs out, supporting himself on his arms in order not to fall backwards. He whistled a melody. The sound drowned in silence.

"Echo!" Yugo shouted, but, listening intently as he was, heard no echo. "Echo, echo, hey!"

He pulled his knees up. There was a bit of thread sticking out of his trouser leg. He pulled at it. It broke. He kneaded it into a little ball, then straightened the ball out, crumpled it up again, even smaller, finally rolled it on the white surface.

"No" the ball slipped from under his fingers and away into the whiteness. "Wait!"

On all fours he chased the little ball.

"Come back! Where are you? No..."

A tear rolled down his cheek, burning like fire.

* * *

This time Yugo knew what to expect. He didn't wait for the blue to dim, but opened his eyes at once.

For a moment he "saw" both the tangled web of wakfu and the matter that was attached to them: living boughs overhead, a flowering plant in the window, a slim figure of a dragon in human form, hiding a particularily bright wakfu node.

"How do you feel, little king?"

Yugo blinked before focusing his eyes on the guest's serious face.

"Phaeris?"

The dragon nodded.

"How do you feel?"

"Dragons heal fast. We are quite resistant."

"Meaning, bad." Yugo put his arms behind him discreetly, but found he still had no strenght to sit up. He gave out a soft sigh.

"Phaeris assures you, little king, he is well."

"You haven't... erm..." Yugo bit his lip, glancing at Phaeris.

"When Eva came here, I felt her wakfu, and it was really odd. As if... there were two girls in one place, but one was tiny. Er..."

A smile flitted through Phaeris's face. His hands were resting unmovingly on his knees.

"Yes, Phaeris has noticed. You, young king, have spent such a large portion of your wakfu you have become overly sensitive to its emanation. This shall pass in time."

"So she's always had this other node?" Yugo asked, astounded.

"Not always." Phaeris shook his head slowly, in obvious resignation. "In our time we would hold the ceremony immediately, but miss Evangeline refused to speak on the subject."

He sighed. "What world have we found ourselves in."

Yugo's head started swimming.

For a while he tried to look at the flower in the window. When the dizziness passed, he said "Phaeris... mmm?"

The dragon looked Yugo in the eye.

"What sort of king was I? Back before..."

"It had been an honour to fight alongside you." Phaeris declared.

"No, but-" the door slammed open.

"Yugo!"

"I'd prefer to examine my patient while he's still breathing, milady." In the whirlwind of wakfu Yugo reckognized the voice of an eniripsa.

"Oh, Yugo, at last!" cried Amalia. "How could you? Pass out like that? Have you any idea what we've been through? Oh, Yugo!"

Her shrills, her brilliant wakfu, the heavy perfume she wore gave Yugo a headache. Closing his eyes, he focused on the warmth of princess's hug.

"Yugo?"

"Mmm?"

"Let him have a nap, Amalia." Said Alibert's voice from the door and her embrace yielded.

"'m not sleeping" muttered Yugo. It was rather pleasant, with his eyes close to see everyone in the room, Salix, busy at the table, Phaeris, still like a statue, restless Amalia, Alibert, and held in Alibert's arms...

"Chibi?" Yugo opened his eyes. The baby cooed.

"Really, invite the whole island, won't you." Salix grumbled. "Let me through, please, sir dragon."

Phaeris stood up obediently, letting the eniripsa poke and prod at Yugo.

"As I keep saying, the patient needs quiet. How do you want him to get better, if he can't even rest?"

Slim fingers closed around his wrist, lifted it and held for a moment. He flinched.

"You're staying in bed for a while, no mistake. Longer, if this herd of noisy gobbals keeps you from sleeping."

The healer glared at Amalia, who turned up her nose.

"Phaeris shall be back later." The dragon nodded first at Yugo, then at the others, before leaving the room.

"One reasonable person." The eniripsa stopped in the door to tap her foot once, twice, then left with an irritated sigh.

"Finally, the nag's out." Amalia muttered.

"She's right." Alibert said, perching on the bed. "We'll only stay a moment, I promise."

Yugo gave him a wan smile. Even without Phaeris and Salix the wakfu in the room was too bright and exhausting.

"Stay." He asked. Amalia patted his hand.

"Sure. Long as you want. We'll tell you everything that happened, okay?"

"Okay." Yugo pulled his hand back slowly. The princess radiated wakfu, suddenly making him feel as if he was standing by a spring on an unbearably hot day. Remembering the noxines, he shuddered. Better not risk it.

"...so everybody was making an awful row, but father said-"

Absorbed in Amalia's words, Yugo didn't notice the weight on his knees, until chubby, warm little hands touched his palm.

"Ah! Oh..."

The princess, who lost her train of thought, blinked, Alibert smiled behind the mustache, and baby Chibi gurgled happily.

"Yes, that's a great joke..." Yugo gently pulled his hand away from the tiny fingers. "Really funny."

He saw reproach in Chibi's chestnut eyes.

"I'm too tired to play, sorry." He said, looking away.

"If you're tired-" Amalia began, but Yugo was quick to interrupt her.

"No, go on. So what happened to that dhrellek?"

"What dhrellek? Yugo, you could have told us you wanted to sleep!"

She stood up abruptly, tossing her hair, and put her hands on her hips.

"You're such a baby sometimes, really. Come on, Alibert."

Alibert stroked the top of Yugo's head and he, with a thousand blessings to whoever came up with the idea of eliatrope hat, answered with a faint smile. What he really wanted was to hug his dad and never, ever let go.

"Get better, son."

The enutrof picked up Chibi, who started yawning. "Well, you should go to bed, too. This must be the first time you follow Grougal's good example, isn't it? Say 'bye, bye'."

The baby gurgled softly.

"Bye." Said Yugo, stifling a yawn himself.

"Goodnight." Alibert closed the door with a click.

* * *

Yugo was wandering in the milk-like mist. He could see nothing in front of himself, and behind himself, either, although when he stretched his hand as far as he could, his own fingers and fingernails seemed unnaturally distinct, as if there wasn't any mist at all.

Maybe there isn't, he thought and reached for his hat, but hesitated. He might still need it. Having decided that, he sat down on the surface underfoot to take off his shoes.

"Hey-ho!" The shoe, thrown with all Yugo's strenght, landed... well. It was clearly visible. Staring intently at the shoe, Yugo started counting his steps.

"One hundred fourty eight, one hundred fourty nine, one hundred fifty, one hundred fifty one. That's it? Wonder how far I'd have to go to stop seeing it."

He started backwards, counting out loud.

"One hundred. One hundred and one, one hundred and two, one hundred-"

Suddenly he lost count and dropped the shoe he was holding. Frantically, he spun around.

"Who's there? Show yourself!"

The whiteness was silent.

Yugo clenched his fists. "Going nuts."

Turning back in the direction he thought he came from, he saw no shoe. It was a bright orange colour, which should stand out here like a sore thumb in here. He slowly turned around.

"But... where is it?"

There was the sound again, the same he heard before, but louder, clearer.

"Who's there?!"

Silence.

"Take the shoe if you want! But show yourself! Please."

The silent, unmoving white surrounded him from all sides.

Yugo started walking. After a while he heard the sound again, but didn't call out, he simply walked in the direction of the sound which resembled sobbing more and more.

There is someone here besided me, he thought, probably longer than me, and that's awful, but when we put our heads together we can come up with a way back home. We'll be friends. Wonder what colours this person likes? They'll love it in Sadida, it's so green there. What is 'green', anyway?"

The sobbing was gradually louder and louder. Yugo hurried.

Patience, he thought, I'm coming. We'll escape, to Sadida, back home, to green trees and fresh bread and, I don't know what else, but I promise.

"I promise!" He shouted, and the weeping stopped. "No... don't get scared..." Yugo whined. He sat heavily on the white surface.

"I won't hurt you..."

A tear rolled down his cheek.

* * *

"Yugo!" Yugo!"

The threads of wakfu were tangled, pale and trembling. Yugo turned his head and moaned when light stung his eyes.

"You were crying in your sleep." Eva said.

He blinked.

"Your eyes are green..."

"Well, yes." Eva gave him a gentle smile. Raising from her knees, she picked a canvas-bound book from the floor to put it on the night table, then she sat on the edge of his bed.

"Here, I'll help you with this blanket. It needs changing anyway, you're all sticky with sweat."

Yugo moved his hand back, or tried to, but, turned out, the blanket was knotted on his writs.

"Hey!"

"Sorry..."

"Yugo. If you don't want to be touched, say so."

"I'm sorry, Eva."

"I said you didn't have to be."

For a moment she studied him in silence. He looked down.

"What if I hurt your baby?"

"...what?"

"Phaeris said I needed more wakfu, and you... Thought I imagined it, but there's sort of two of you, and I know-"

"Yugo." Eva pressed his hand to the blanket with hers. "Calm down."

He glanced at her from under his fringe, but she held firmly.

"I sleep all the time and wake up even more tired." He whispered.

"Umm, I see that." Eva straightened up, not letting go of his hand.

"Why would you hurt my baby?"

Yugo stirred. "I don't want to!"

"So what's the problem?"

"But if? Not wanting to? You saw the trees wilt when Nox sucked their wakfu out-"

"But you're not sucking wakfu out."

"How do you know?"

"Well, look around. We're in Sadida, where even the walls are alive. See anything wilting?"

"But what if I'd have to tough them to-"

"Yugo. I'll ask Phaeris, if you like, of bring him here so he can tell you himself, but I'm absolutely sure you are not stealing wakfu from anyone or anything."

"I'm not sure." He muttered. "What are you doing?"

Eva moved a bit closer to put Yugo's hand on her stomach. She pressed it, very lightly.

"Eva-"

"Shh. See?"

The fine threads of wakfu were interweaving and untangling in two nodes, a large one and a tiny one, hugging the other, distinct, but connected. Yugo watched wakfu flow, watched the tiny knot grow, almost imperceptibly, bigger and more separate from the larger one each moment, somehow not diminishing it at all. He sighed.

"She's so tiny... You're really not scared?"

"Of you? Not even a little."

With a smile, Eva let go of his hand.

"Of course, if I'm wrong, there's always the possibility of putting an arrow in your eye."

He smiled. She leaned forwards to tousle his fringe, just a little, like a concerned older sister.

"I'll have them run you a bath. And maybe get some sleeping herbs, because I expect you to be up and about when my baby is born."

"Thank you."

"You'll be an uncle, Yugo. No excuses." She stretched, still slim and even prettier than she used to be.

"I'll be right back. Try and rest a little."

"What's this book about?" Yugo asked with a glance at the night table.

"Rykke Errel, I took it from the library. Want to read?"

Yugo reached for the book. It was heavy, but he managed not to drop it.

"Thank you, Eva."

"Don't mention it."


	2. Adamai

The cone hit a tree and landed among ferns.

"Dumb piece of wood." Growled Adamai. Sand was wriggling its way inbetween his scales, irritating and scratching. The dragon sat down on a rock, hot as a cooking plate, to get his legs, at least, clean.

"What'cha staring at?" He grumbled at a piwi that sat on a nearby branch, tilting its head. Adamai threw a pine cone at it, but the bird fluttered away.

"No privacy at all, Great Dragon."

He gave up picking his talons and turned into a tofu instead.

"Ow!"

He shot up with a hiss of pain. For dragon's skin the hot stone was unpleasant at worst, but a little tofu could cook on it quite nicely. Adamai flew across the glade, turned back into his usual form and landed his sore backside in the cool, soft grass.

"You're an idiot." He informed himself. "A foolish hatchling. What have you been doing when the Goddess was handing out brains? Moron."

He puulled a handful of grass out, wadded it into a loose ball and tossed on the sand.

"Pathethic half-dragon."

He squinted at the sandy clearing he only called a glade for lack of better word. How can it count as a glade with no grass to lie on? Why weren't any trees growing here? Wonder what Yugo would say. What he will say. When he's finally better. Sigh.

Adamai stood up heavily, pushing himself off the ground.

Everybody was fussing over his brother, and over the kids, too, though Grougal was just imprisoned. And Chibi slept through the entire mess right here, in Sadida, being looked after by Alibert. Except Yugo did save the world, and now was bedridden because of it.

"And why did he have to save the world? Cause a dumb... whelp... an excuse... for a dragon..."

Adamai's fist made a sizabledepression in the pine bark. He stared at it, panting, hands on the trunk.

Leaving, he kicked the tree, sending several cones to the sandy ground.

* * *

The sun was creeping through the sky like a starved larva through a desert, even the birds in the bushed hollered at it to go faster. Adamai roared and was satisfied with the answer: rustle of branches and flutter of wings.

"Right."

With a crooked smile he made his way among the larger trees, where the forest was darker, more overgrown and entangled.

He changed shape to fly up to a thick bough, changed to his favourite form again and sat down, dangling his legs. That was a nice vantage point.

"Dang it, and here I thought I walked far away." He mumbled at the sight of the green roof, but stayed seated. With a claw he started scratching lines in bark, straight at frist, then wavy, then a quick sketch portrait of Az which he clawed out at once.

"Looks like a gobball with bad indigestion."

He pulled himself up on a broken branch.

"Ow!" Sudden mental contact hurt like a pin stuck in his brain.

I nearly fell off a tree, Adamai complained.

What were you doing there? Was the honestly baffled answer. Of course, right, proper dragons don't climb trees.

Come back, Phaeris said, it is getting late. And with that he broke the connection.

Adamai snorted. "What for?"

Nevertheless he started scrambling down the trunk, hooking his claws on the cracks in the bark. I'm not at your beck and call, Phaeris, he thought.

The sun was still quite high over the trees.

* * *

"Ha! Defend yourself, vile xelor!"

Behind the bushes there was a clack of wood on wood. Adamai rubbed his forehead.

"Be gone, mean creature!" Added another little voice, against all odds even higher-pitched and more purposefully cute.

"Ii-ha!" Screamed the first little voice. The wood cracked.

"D' you have to yell?" Adamai asked, emerging from the thicket.

A kid in a watermelon-like hat pushed himself up from the grass and started collecting what was left of his sword, while the other two tried to stare Adamai down.

"The forest is for everybody, mister dragon." The girl shrilled. She had pigtails and a voice fit to drill stone.

"That's right, including those who'd rather not hear you."

"We're not doing a thing!"

"Your bellowing scares the piwis."

"Defend, monster!"

Adamai squinted at the half of a wooden sword, which was aimed at him and pointy with splinters. Its handle was clutched in a pudgy little hand, the other end of which connected to the watermelon kid.

"Wanna play, huh?" A small flame shot from the dragon's mouth to turn the wood into ash so quickly the boy didn't even have the time to get scared.

"Get some better toys." Adamai growled. The sadida children stood, wide-eyed and open mouthed, until he grinned. Then, as if they just remembered what they were going to do, the kids scrammed.

The dragon waited till the stampede quieted and the thicket stopped rustling. Then he let the air out, stooping, before he sat on the turf-lined bench.

"How do you do it?" He asked, glancing up at the statue of magically preserved wood, which gleamed golden under the artistic covering of ivy.

"You don't seem to think at all, but when it comes to the thick of it... ugh.

The wooden Percidal was smiling foolishly. Adamai, who had had the privilege of meeting the original, had never seen such a perfectly thoughtless look on his face. It seemed like the artist had only been given a vague direction to show the iop in triumph, possibly over reality in general.

* * *

It was already dark and the lamps had been lit when Adamai dragged himself to the palace. The guards let him in without a word.

"Here's hoping you're asleep like a good kid." He said, entering the room.

There was a lantern hung by the door, and he lit it with a blow before turning.

"Grougal?"

The bed had been neatly made. No trace of the little monster who should, at this time of the day, have already built a nest out of all available blankets and pillows, possibly leaving a sheet to Adamai.

He swallowed. Took a step forward.

"Is that some sort of a joke?"

He opened the wardrobe. All it held was an old coat and a warren of dust bunnies.

"Grougaloragan!"

Why didn't you teach me to make contact, he thought, looking under the bed. Maybe it'd be a bit easier.

It was a small room, and having searched every nook and cranny for the third time Adamai could no longer pretend he was going to find the dragonette asleep in some bizarre corner. Maybe he'd flown out the balcony? He had good wings. But the guards would have seen him, and if they had, they'd be sure to tell Adamai about the last mischief his ward has done.

His stomach twisted painfully. Adamai ran out of the room.

* * *

"Aah! Are you nuts? People are sleeping!"

"You're waking them." Adamai grumped, pulling himself back up with the help of a wooden wall.

"When a dragon suddenly jumps out at a princess in her own palace" Amalia put her hands on her hips "of course she's going to scream! Haven't you jogged in the forest?"

"Princesses don't wander at night. In their dressing gowns." Adamai snapped.

She turned red like a ripe api.

"You... scaly reptile!"

"You green-haired harridan!"

"How dare you!"

"Easily. Seen Grougal?"

With a snort, she folded her arms od her chest. "If you took a little interest in what others do, you'd know he's with Alibert."

"Alibert?"

"What, turning deaf? Alibert. Go to sleep."

"Why?"

"It's night, that's why." Amalia brushed at her dressing gown, then turned on the spot and left, stomping like a herd of gobballs.

Adamai stared after her. When she vanished behind the corner, he slowly walked back to the bedroom shared with the hatchling.

Except it wasn't shared anymore, was it?

Softly he closed the door, blew out the lantern, went out to the balcony. The thin sickle of the moon was silver above the trees.

Adamai turned into a tiny tofu and flew into the dark.

* * *

Groping a little, but mostly using wakfu, he found a good, high placed tree hollow in the forest, empty of bird nests and large enough to comfortably house the young dragon in his favourite form. He turned back to it, disturbing the dust at the bottom.

"Yuck..."

He coughed some of it out, then curled up.

Now I have a cave of my own, he thought drowsily. Don't have to worry about anything or anoyne. Don't have to ask for a thing.

Somewhere inside his head there was an itch of a contact being made, but Adamai pushed it away with barely a notice.

Leave me alone, Phaeris, he thought, burrowing in the dry dust. Should have thought of me sooner.

He woke up with a desert in his mouth, stiff, sore and covered in dry rot. The sun was burning his back, somewhere nearby a wild tofu was screaming its little beak off.

"Shut it." Adamai mumbled, turning on his back,

and shut his eyes immediately. Sunlight filled the tree hollow like honey fills a jar.

Adamai sat up, moving closer to the wall, to rub at his pained neck. He was horribly thirsty.

"Shut it, I said."

Covering his eyes, he looked out.

"Need to get out before I cook in here."

Not changing his shape, since he didn't need it or feel like it, he scrambled out of the hollow and slid down, scattering bits of decayed wood and bark over a soft, green carpet of moss. A thorough rolling in it cleaned his scales, at least a little, but he still needed water. A lot.

A horn sounded deep in the forest. The sadida never hunted, except for monsters, but they did patrol the forest, and he wasn't up to talking to anyone. Orienting himself by wakfu, he hid among the trees.

* * *

"You little..."

Adamai pulled himself up on a rock, not the one he fell off, but another, less mossy and slippery. The fish was staring at him, keeping itself in place with tiny movements of its fins.

The dragon tensed, jumped and landed in the water, empty-handed, again. He spat some of it out, rising. The fish continued to stare from under the water.

"Even the fish are mean here."

Adamai squinted. The dumb fish darted between the rocks.

"I'll get you, just you see."

Wet, he got out to the shore. On a heap of boulders a large piwi fluttered down to clean its feathers. There was a gargle in the dragon's stomach.

Adamai patted it absently, focused on assessing the distance. Too far to jump, changing would scare it off... hmm...

He stomped. The piwi looked around, baffled, then continued grooming. Adamai stomped again, which failed to interest the bird.

"That's it..."

A rustle, a click, then silence. Adamai called the golem off before picking up the piwi with a broken neck. Not far from there he's seen a nice place to make a fire.

Before he was done with the piwi, it already started turning dark. Stretched by the fire he looked at a plume of smoke dissolving in the gray dusk.

He wasn't going back. Each attempt at contact by Phaeris was rejected more easily than the last one, at reflex, really. He didn't need him. He didn't need anyone.

A little above the place he roasted the piwi, between the rocks, Adamai spied a promising crack. He stomped out the cinders, scattered them and stretched.

This cave needed exploring before he'd move in.

* * *

"The trace is fresh, lord."

Someone sighed out loud, with obvious irritatation. Adamai raised his head despite himself. He disliked getting up before noon.

On the shore in front of his cave three saddled dragoturkeys stood, scratching at the ground, held by their reins by one sadida. Another, prostrate on the ground, was sticking his nose into a pile of ash.

Prince Armand stood by the sadida's mossy head, arms folded, his back to Adamai.

"How fresh?" He asked.

"No older than two days." The tracker said, dipping his finger in the ash. Adamai swallowed a laugh. It's been a week since he started making fires at this spot.

"That proves nothing" the prince remarked, "except that someone made a fire here two days ago. Possibly even our patrolmen."

"That's all I can say for sure, sir." The tracker held out his hands. Armand snorted in the exact same way his sister would, before taking the reins of his steed from the other sadida.

"We go downriver." He commanded.

The riders reined their dragoturkeys in. Adamai waited till they vanished in the forest, and then a little while longer, before he got to his feet and out of the cave.

He doubted they had been looking for him. Why would they? Even Phaeris had stopped trying by now. The sadida had a real dragon, and experienced one.

He washed at the shore. He wasn't hungry enough to hunt, but since he was up already, there was no point in going back to sleep.

He went further into the water. The river was quite rapid here, but Adamai made several steps against the current with no problem.

Hah. Wonder how far can I go? He started upstream, his feet steady on the hard river bed.

* * *

In the gorge not far from the palace a white dragon was amusing himself by tossing stones into the stream.

The sun had already climbed rather high overhead when Adamai got tired of walking against current and got out on the bank. Having had his golem catch some fish for lunch, he ate them, had his siesta, and now he was delaying the moment when he'll have to go back to his cave, not really knowing why. He didn't care, though. He was in no rush.

He gathered some smooth stones from the water and was now killing time (hah, hah) by throwing them back in again, into the white foam.

"Splash!" He called at the stone that landed on the other bank. "Splash, you!"

"I think you hit a stone."

Adamai spun around. "What do you want?"

Percidal opened his mouth, but Rubilax hung from his belt proved faster. "Dragon's hoard, har, har, har."

"Quiet, Rubi." Said Dally absently, making himself comfortable on a large boulder. "I'm looking for you, Adamai. Everybody is."

"Yeah?" A stone flew in a nice arch and fell in, making a proper splash this time.

"Yup. We've been there" with a tilt of his head he indicated downriver "and Eva said you've been making fires there, so she and the cras went searching in the forest, and I thought you might be here."

Rubilax and Adamai snorted at the same moment.

"Stop lying, knight." The shushu guffawed, while Adamai laughed out loud. Percidal clapped the sword's hilt lightly.

"The current's a bit strong for skipping stones here."

"What do you care?" Adamai bent to pick up a stone.

"Yugo's getting better." Dally reached for a stone, too, and threw it quite far. "He'll be asking about you. And Grougal's stopped-"

"Yugo, Yugo, Yugo. Maybe I just want a little peace and quiet?"

"I'm telling you Grougal only burned me once today."

Adamai cast his stone to the other side of the gorge.

"Scram."

"Har, har, har, Dally! I take that back. There is a bigger baby than you are, and it's a dragon!"

Adamai gnashed his teeth.

"Tell your demon to shut up." He snarled.

When he started for the water, Percidal caught him by the shoulder.

"Let go."

"When we first came here, I broke Evangeline's bow."

Adamai pulled away. "So I heard."

"I was duelling Armand, and-"

"Rubilax possessed you, I know! Armand told me, the guards told me, these two heads of cabbage who follow Amalia told me. I know! Don't go telling me I was just a tool! That's worse that if I did this myself!"

Percidal stood, looking at him, hand on the pommel of his sword. Shushu sword...

"I should have been smarter than you are" the dragon growled "instead of getting played. I'm a dragon!"

"I should have been stronger" Dally shrugged "instead of getting possesed. I'm a iop."

He held out his hand, but Adamai moved back, splashing into the water.

"Adamai-"

"Adamai, Adamai, nobody comes unless they want something! Somebody has to look after a hatchling, Adamai. Teach wakfu sensing, Adamai. Murder another dragon, Adamai. He can do that!

He spewed some fire, but Percidal dodged on reflex.

"Aaand we get into trouble." Muttered Rubilax. Percidal patted him.

A creature rose from the water, at once like and unlike Adamai, white, but stocky as o golem, with a huge, bulging head.

The iop withdrew a little just to see it in its entirety.

"Adamai!"

"Get lost!"

"I don't suppose you'll get lost?" Asked Rubilax, rather hopelessly. Percidal patted the cross-guard.

"Adamai is our pal." He dodged the huge draconic fist expertly.

"Nice crater our pal just made." Rubilax muttered.

Percidal retreated. The dragon jumped on a rock, shaking the ground and making the iop lose his balance and fall on his back in the sand.

"Percidal!"

"It's okay, Rubi!" He rolled away from a blow that made sand billow into the air.

"Hey, hey, here!" The iop called from the stream.

"Are you mad?"

"I know what I'm doing, Rubi!"

The dragon roared.

"Come 'ere!" Percidal encouraged, causing Rubilax to moan. "Where am I gonna find another guardian now?"

"Always knew you liked me."

"For the- watch out!"

A great wave drenched both the iop and his shushu. Percidal moved his wet hair out of his eyes. "Adamai?"

The dragon rose from the water to charge at the knight.


	3. Brothers

"Come on... for Alibert!"

Yugo made an exaggerrated grimace.

"Oh, Amalia" he said, and the princess seized the opportunity to cram a spoonful of hot thistle broth right into his mouth. He swallowed as fast as he could.

"For Chibi." He hadn't time to blink, and Amalia already had filled the spoon anew.

"Didn't I tell you I could feed myself?" He asked, trying not to open his mouth.

"Even thistle broth?" She smiled.

"Yuck. You're right, I'd already have run away if I could."

They both giggled.

"Come, Yugo. For Grougal." Amalia said, stifling a laugh, and he swallowed the soup. Then he rolled his eyes. Amalia stuck her tongue at him.

He wasn't really hungry, but figured eating would be reasonable. Arguing with the princess was never a reasonable course of action, and besides, what Yugo was actually starved for was visible company. Phaeris did contact him in his mind regularly, but it just wasn't the same.

"For Adamai, Yugo."

"I was going to ask, where is he?" He said, pushing the spoon away.

"Adamai? They haven't found him yet."

Yugo blinked and his hand clenched on the edge of the blanket.

"What do you mean, they haven't found him?"

"Well, he vanished in the forest some days ago," She shrugged, but Yugo sat up straight, leaning on the headboard.

"And nobody's looking for him?"

"Everybody is! Armand, Eva, Dally, half the guards-"

"Phaeris-"

"Says he keeps calling, in that magical way of yours, but Adamai won't answer. Yugo." Amalia put the bowl on the night table, then placed her hands on her hips, but was interrupted by a sudden rumble out the window, as if a stone avalanche was rolling down a chasm. She stood up to have a look.

"What's going on... I can't see... Ah!"

A shadow crossed the room, and Amalia, her balance lost, sat on the floor.

"What was that?"

"I don't know, Yugo. Something flew... There it is again!"

He slipped from under the blanket and walked up to her, one hand on the smooth wooden wall. Amalia, hung out through the balcony railing, muttered. "In the gorge... It dove into the gorge, it was white."

There was a rumble. Amalia stood up straight, hands on the railing.

"I'd bet... I'll check it out."

"I'm going with you."

She spun around, tossing her hair, to look daggers at the bed, then on Yugo, who was standing next to the wall in his pyjamas. She tapped her foot on the floor, but Yugo looked her calmly in the eye.

"Go to bed." She ordered, turning back.

"And let you go on your own?"

Amalia summoned a thick bramble. It coiled at her feet, and she said over her shoulder. "That's right, hero. You can barely stand."

Cool fingers closed around her hand. Surprised, she looked at Yugo, straight as a young tree by her side.

"Stubborn."

She sighed.

"Well, alright. But hold on tight, you hear?"

"I hear."

Together they stepped onto the bramble which crept, carrying them, down to the gorge.

* * *

The stone dust was irritating for the throat, but the worst thing was, he couldn't see much for it. Percidal coughed, covering his mouth with the back of his hand.

"Enough already?" He called.

"Yeah, great, prod the dragon."

"I know what I'm doing." Hand of Rubilax's pommel, he made a couple of careful steps. The shushu cleared his throat.

A white lightning blew sand right into iop's eyes.

"Here you are! Defen-g!"

Percidal's back slid down the stone wall, but the knight landed on his feet, if possibly a little unsteady.

The dragon shone white in the dust. Rocks rumbled from a roar. Percidal kept his eyes fixed to the tip of the dragon's snout. He dodged, rolled under a clawed foot, landed in water and shook it off himself.

The white paw swished over his head. The dragon roared like thunder, but, to Percidal's surprise, didn't try to strike.

He looked up. The white paws were entangled in Sadida bramble.

"Dally, move!" Called Amalia, invisible in the dust.

"And you, you scaly beast-"

The vines snapped. A roar shook the gorge. Percidal lost his balance, but propped himself on one hand, so he didn't hit the rocks.

"Adamai!"

"Yugo?" The iop raised his head. Across the stream a blue light was outlining a familiar figure. The dragon sat in the water, shaking his head.

"Adamai..."

The blue silhouette blinkered and waned.

"Yugo!" The dragon roared.

* * *

White, featureless, dull white was surrounding him. Yugo gave out a loud sigh.

"And here I hoped never to be back here again."

He nearly jumped out of his skin, feeling a soft tough on his shoulder.

"It's you? Really you?" Hot tears filled his eyes when he hugged Adamai.

"Erm. We're in contact. Well..."

Yugo pulled away at arm's lenght, to look at him, still holding his brother's hands.

"Contact?"

"I mean, more than normal. Full mental contact. Never knew I could do this."

Until now he had been avoiding Yugo's eyes, now he glanced at him for a second.

"Sorry, I'm going now..."

"No! No, stay. Please."

Adamai, surprised, looked him in the eye. "What for?"

Yugo tilted his head at the white void.

"You don't need me for that. It's you dream. You'll change it however you want."

He moved his hand back, but Yugo's grasp was strong.

"Show me how to change a dream."

"And then go?"

"Adamai. Since when do you come and go when called?"

The dragon shrugged. Sitting down, he pulled Yugo to what passed here for ground.

"What do you want to dream about?"

"The Island of Oma." He said instantly.

"You have to imagine it." Said Adamai. "Not just the shapes and colours. everything. The smell of the soil, whispering of the waves, the warmth."

"You knew it better." Yugo said, closing his eyes.

"Yeah, but that's not the difficulty. The thing is, this void'll keep pushing at you. Pushing other things away."

"Mhm."

"You need to concentrate."

"I am."

"You need to feel it." Adamai went on. "Remember the smell of those leaves? Huge, shiny leaves in the forest?"

"I remember warm sand." Yugo whispered. "The sea wind."

Salty breeze blew at his fringe.

"Waves whispering..."

"Good, Yugo!"

"I remember a dragon in a funny hat." Yugo opened his eyes with a smile.

They were sitting on the beach in a cove on the island, holding hands. Adamai was wearing his hat.

"Har, har," he said, scowling, but Yugo pulled him close and hugged with all his strenght.

"I missed you."

"Missed you, too." Said Adamai, slipping out of his embrace.

"Ad..."

"Yugo, I... don't bother. I can't do anything right..."

"And we keep giving you jobs. We're so stupid." Yugo smiled.

Adamai chuckled.

"Yeah. A bunch of idiots and an excuse for a dragon. Maybe I do fit."

The waves were lapping at the shore.

"You need to rest."

"Can't when I don't know where you are."

"I'm here. All the time. We have a bond, whether we want it or not, you only have to think about talking to me to talk to me."

Yugo nodded.

"Sleep."

"Will you be there when I wake up?"

Adamai hesitated.

"I will."

The beach dissolved into nothing.

* * *

There were two large nodes of wakfu in the room, both bright against the pale threads which shaped the branches of the walls, but besides them there was another, interlaced with sharp stasis crystals. The crystals were darked than the void. Odd.

"Hi, Yugo."

"Dally?" Yugo blinked and saw a wide smile and a shock of red hair. "You're alright?"

"Pff. Me?" There were sparkles in iop's eyes. "Was I ever not?"

"If you call nuts alright." Rubilax at his belt mumbled. Yugo squinted to see the stasis crystals entangled in his wakfu. They were really rather small, and not so many. One dissolved in the stream of light while he was watching.

"What'cha staring at?"

He shook his head.

"But Eva did dress me down a little." The iop admitted. "You know, I'm irremsible, that sort of thing. Who else is there to fight dragons?"

They both laughed. Yugo rubbed his neck with his free hand.

"He's been sleeping here all the time?"

They looked at Adamai, curled between the wall and his brother's knees.

"Amalia wanted to throw him out, but he glared at her, sort of, and she forgot."

"Amalia? Shame I missed this." He giggled. "Listen, Dally... I should have talked to him."

"Why're you saying sorry? I had the best fun!"

Yugo shook his head.

"Just like you."

For a while they watched the dragon sleep in silence. Yugo stifled the urge to tickle him, and pulled the blanket over his brother.

"Thanks, Dally."

"Don't mention it."

Adamai stirred in his sleep, muttering something about kings and dragons.

"We have a long way ahead of us." Yugo sighed.

Percidal touched his shoulder. "Eva and I are staying for now, but you're not up for travelling yet, either. Right?"

"No, not really." Yugo admitted, smiling.

"We're your team, kid. One for all, all for one."

"I know. Thanks."

"As I said. We're your team."


End file.
